Inheritance Tax Act 1984 section 191

The relief

Section 191 provides relief where land from a deceased person's estate is sold at a loss within three years of death, allowing the sale price to replace the date-of-death value for inheritance tax purposes.

• Where an interest in land from the deceased's estate is sold within three years of death, the appropriate person (typically the executors) may claim to substitute the sale value for the original date-of-death value used in the inheritance tax calculation.
• The claim must be made no more than four years after the end of the three-year sale window, and the relief does not apply if the difference between the sale value and the death value is less than the lower of £1,000 or 5 per cent of the death value.
• The relief is excluded where the sale is made by a personal representative or trustee to a beneficiary (or their spouse, civil partner, child or remoter descendant), or to trustees of a settlement in which such a person has an interest in possession.
• The relief is also excluded where, in connection with the sale, the vendor or any connected person obtains a right to acquire the interest sold or any other interest in the same land.